Black Rig

Date Added: 2nd Sep 2025
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 1st Sep 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: The stone has been knocked over and isnt very big around a metre in length and approximately 45cm wide and 30cm thick . It's possibly a boundary stone. There is old earthworks on either side of the stone these may have been boundary lines these earthworks are on the OS map.

Cambridge Standing Stone

Date Added: 26th May 2024
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 19th May 2024. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: Next to a small road and situated next to a horse paddock. I parked up near the picnic site which is a nice little area. You then walk under a nice archway that spans over the road, then make your way through a a handful of trees, climb over a Drystone dyke and your there, you can actually see it from the road. It's decent sized stone I would say about 6-7ft in height, about 2.5ft width on each side, and there is evidence of old cup marks which seem to have eroded further. There is also evidence on the side facing the paddock or two modern holes being drilled into it.

Nisbet 2

Date Added: 2nd Sep 2025
Site Type: Sculptured Stone Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 16th Apr 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Back at the start of the year I was doing some research on a destroyed sculpted stone in Nisbet (near Ancrum) and had found out. It was destroyed by a council worker in 1970 and dumped in a ditch in the old graveyard. It was then rescued by Hawick archaeology society in 1971 and pieced back together. It was then rumoured to be in Hawick museum, however it wasn't on display. I contacted the museum and they didn't believe that they had any records on the stone or having it in their inventory. After three weeks of them looking around for it I was invited to their storeroom where they stated they had found a stone but wasn't sure if it was the one I was looking for and asked for some assistance. The stone was covered by a knitted blue blanket that was in a deteriorated state, under the blanket I can confirm that it is the stone from Nisbet but also that the stone is in fact a Hogback stone very similar to the one in Ancrum old Kirk yard. Please note the images taken were taken by me with the permission of Hawick museum and cannot be used without permission from myself and Hawick museum. Only a handful of these stones survive in the Scottish Borders. They are concentrated in areas where there was a Viking influence in the 9th and 10th centuries although some can date up to the 12th century. The stones are carved to look like the roof of a house and indeed some have markings which resemble shingle or roof slates although some say they look like fish scales or scalloped shaped. In Scotland there are concentrations in Orkney, the Forth-Clyde Valley and the Borders where they are located in Ancrum, Bedrule, Edrom, Lempitlaw and Nisbet. It is thought that they are the grave covering of persons of importance or wealth although, interestingly, no bones have been found under the stones. This does not mean that they do not represent graves but rather that they may have been moved from their original site. Well the Scottish Borders now have another stone which they thought had been destroyed when in fact it had been misplaced and forgotten about. The museum didn't even know what they had but was very surprised when I had told them what they had.